Russia will resume flights with China and Indonesia on Monday. The corresponding decision was made by the operative center for fighting the coronavirus infection at the end of February. So far, the decision is technical in nature: no airlines have announced plans to open flights between the countries.
Russian, Chinese and Indonesian airlines may each conduct three flights between the countries. So, flights Moscow - Denpasar with a frequency of three flights a week (i.e. six flights a week: three for Russian airline and three for foreign one); Moscow - Beijing, Moscow - Guangzhou and Moscow - Shanghai with a frequency of one flight (i.e. two flights a week for two cities) are opened for airlines.
On May 14, 2021, the PRC State Committee on Hygiene and Health reported that passengers arriving in China can complete quarantine if two PCR tests show a negative result. After quarantine, those arriving in the PRC need to take two more PCR tests. In turn, the Indonesian authorities on February 4 this year, opened the resort island of Bali to all foreigners. The country's leadership has also decided to reduce the quarantine period for fully vaccinated tourists from seven to five days.
At the end of February Russia closed airspace for 36 countries (China and Indonesia are not among them) as a response to the closure of airspace for Russian planes. Moreover, the Federal Air Transport Agency recommended Russian airlines to significantly limit flights abroad, a recommendation given against the "high risk of detention or arrest of Russian airlines' aircraft abroad". The recommendation does not apply to airlines of the Russian Federation, which operate aircraft of foreign or Russian registration and have no risk of arrest or detention; foreign airlines of countries that have not joined the sanctions and have not restricted air traffic with the Russian Federation. After this recommendation, some airlines, such as Aeroflot, S7 and Pobeda, completely closed international flights (Aeroflot only left flights to Minsk).
At the same time, restrictions on flights to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Iran, imposed due to COVID-19, were completely lifted. Earlier restrictions on flights to Belarus, Dominican Republic, Egypt, UAE, Turkey, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, South Korea and Cuba were also completely lifted.
Flights to these countries are now limited only by provisions of intergovernmental agreements on air communication and individual agreements of the countries' aviation authorities.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS